1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a light source, and more particularly, to a light source module and a display device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, research and development have been conducted on information processing devices that can process a large amount of data in a short amount of time as well as for the display devices that can display the processed data. More specifically, the display devices convert an electrical signal processed by the information processing devices into an image signal. Examples of such display devices include a liquid crystal display (LCD) device using liquid crystal, an organic light emitting device (OLED) using organic light emitting material, and a plasma display panel (PDP) using plasma.
The LCD device includes a liquid crystal panel and a light source module. The liquid crystal panel includes a top substrate, a bottom substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two substrates. The light source module provides light to the liquid crystal panel.
The light source module includes a light guide plate disposed under the liquid crystal panel and a light source disposed on one side of the light guide plate. A cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) is typically used as the light source. Meanwhile, interest in a light emitting diode (LED) is growing because it has low power consumption, a compact size, and high reliability compared to the CCFL.
The LED, however, has large brightness deviations of light provided to a light incident surface of the light guide plate. Therefore, dark spots and hot spots occur in the light guide plate. The dark spots represent regions where light is not provided, and the hot spots represent regions where light intensity is greater than in other regions. Consequently, uniform light is not provided to the liquid crystal panel. In addition, since light is not provided to the liquid crystal panel at the dark spot regions of the light guide plate, useless dark space is formed in the light guide plate. As a result, there is a limitation to compacting a light source module for use in small displays.
When an external impact occurs to the light guide plate, the light source may be damaged by a collision between the light guide plate and the light source. To solve this problem, securing members are installed on both sides of the light guide plate facing the light source. However, since the securing members block light emitted from the light source toward the light guide plate, dark spaces are formed corresponding to the securing members so that portions of the light guide plates are darkened.